1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to mixing devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to improvements in free standing blender-type devices for mixing individual drinks and the like.
2. Background Art
Many drinks are made by combining several ingredients including fluids, powders and/or syrups. Manually stirring such drinks rarely produces a thorough combination. Instead, the heavier of the ingredients often concentrates at the bottom, while the lighter ingredients rise to the top. Shaking drinks may produce a more thorough combination than stirring, but still often fails to produce the desired result. Furthermore, since few containers are well adapted for either shaking or stirring, these tactics often increase spillage.
To address these problem, blenders and mixers of various sorts are sometimes used to more thoroughly combine ingredients added to a drink. Since blenders usually employ tight fitting lids, the problem of spillage is minimized. Furthermore, blenders mix their contents at faster speeds than stirring or shaking, thus producing a more thorough combination of the ingredients.
Blenders and other similar mixing devices have problems of their own however. Most blenders are larger than a single drink serving, thus necessitating that mixed contents be poured into separate containers (e.g., glasses) for serving. This creates the possibility of spillage as the drink or other fluid combination is poured from the blender or mixing device to a usually smaller container.
Furthermore, blenders separate the process of preparation from the processes of service and consumption. Thus, there is often enough lag time between mixing and consumption to allow the contents to settle and partially separate.
Blenders and other similar mixing devices also require the user to manually activate the blending mechanism. This may slow preparation time.
Finally, after the contents of the blender are transferred to another container, no further mixing can occur without re-transferring the drink back to the blender. Thus, even if a drink or other fluid mixture is immediately served after it is mixed, if it is not immediately consumed, some degree of settling and separation of the contents is bound to occur. This cannot be remedied without re-transferring the drink to the blender or other mixing device or resorting to another method for mixing drinks such as stirring or shaking.
Many blender-type mixing devices have been invented in attempting to address these problems. Among these are U.S. Pat. No. 1,762,353 to Robinson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,824,929 to Pritchard, U.S. Pat. No. 2,758,623 to Malz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,864 to Lee, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,286 to Purkapile and EPO 0 562 310 A1 issued to Schindlegger.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,762,353 to Robinson discloses a manually operable mixing device which provides a substantially cylindrical receptacle, with an open top and a blade-bearing agitator which is operable as a non-rotatable piston in the receptacle. The agitator consists essentially of a cover and a stem with a handle and a blade. The stem runs through a hole in the cover so that when the cover is in place on the receptacle the handle may be used to move the blade up and down, thus mixing the contents of the receptacle.
This device however, must be operated manually. Furthermore, once mixing is complete, the agitator and cover must be removed and the contents of the mixer transferred into serving containers. This increases spillage and necessitates additional clean-up because the blade and lower portion of the stem have been immersed in the contents of the receptacle and are very likely to drip when removed. Also, the step of transferring the contents from mixer to serving containers increases the likelihood of spillage.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,824,929 to Pritchard discloses a drink mixer which utilizes a tumbler or similar container for a mixing receptacle. The tumbler has a removable top with a central bearing orifice adapted to slidably receive the rod of the mixing device. On one end of the rod is a handle and on the other end of the rod is a mixing disc which may be dish formed.
Although this device provides for mixing contents within a container that may also be used for serving, thus eliminating the need for transferring contents from one container to another, it is still likely to create spillage when the mixing disc and cover are removed from the container. Because the mixing disc and the rod have been immersed in the contents of the container, spilling or dripping may occur when the rod and mixing dish are removed prior to serving the drink. Also, this device must be manually operated.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,758,623 to Malz et al. discloses a liquefier having a resiliently mounted motor and container. This liquefier device includes a base having an electric motor, and a container with cutting blades mounted on the bottom of its interior. Because of the motor, no manual operation is necessary. However, the problem of spillage still exists with this mixer because of the necessity of transferring the contents out of the container after mixing. Also, because the motor must be plugged in, portability of the device is limited.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,864 to Lee discloses a mixer unit which may be removably, sealingly affixed to the top of a receptacle containing the material to be mixed and the combination thereafter inverted during the mixing operation. Although this invention may be used with serving containers such as tumblers and it may be portable (i.e. battery powered), it still presents some problems. First, because the mixer unit is attached to the top of a receptacle, the receptacle must be inverted before the mixer unit functions properly. This creates a possibility of spillage because if the mixer is in any way improperly attached or if there is some sealing defect between the mixer unit and the receptacle, the contents of the receptacle will literally be dumped out when it is inverted. Second, even if no leakage or spillage occurs when the unit is inverted, there is likely to be some dripping or spilling when the unit is returned to its upright position and the mixing unit, which has been immersed in the contents during mixing, is removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,286 to Purkapile discloses a liquid pitcher including a removable lid and a rotary and reciprocal shaft journaled in the lid and having an apertured grinding and mixing plate attached to one end of the shaft. The grinding and mixing plate includes a plurality of mixing holes, four equally spaced semicircular rim segments, and a set of grinding teeth located on the underside thereof facing a set of fixed grinding teeth located in a row on the bottom of the pitcher with the two sets of teeth being mutually facing and interfitting. The mixer plate can be rotated to grind up frozen concentrate or reciprocated within the container to mix liquids therein. The holes in the aperture plate provide a mixing action in both the rotary and reciprocating modes of operation.
This device, by its nature, necessitates transfer of its contents to serving containers after mixing. Because the pitcher is constructed so as to facilitate pouring (i.e. it has a spout, etc.), spillage will probably not be a large problem, but still could be possible. The pitcher is portable, but must be manually operated. Furthermore, if it becomes desirable to re-mix a drink, the lid, shaft and mixing plate must be removed and the drink would have to be added back to the contents of the pitcher. Neither of these actions are ideal as removing the lid, shaft and mixing plate increases the likelihood of spillage, and re-introducing the drink to the pitcher could result in spreading germs.
EPO 0 562 310 A1 to Schindlegger discloses a mixing apparatus having a container and a variety of different shaped whisks. The Schindlegger patent uses a rotary drive to rotate a whisk within the container for mixing the drink.
Each of the devices discussed above possesses desirable features and advantages. However, none of them adequately address all of the problems discussed above relating to mixing devices for mixing drinks and the like. The references discussed above are hereby incorporated by reference.